Tulsa Pilot Takes Human Trafficking Message To The Skies

A Tulsa businesswoman is using her passion as a pilot and Rotary President to raise awareness for human trafficking.

She's entered an airplane race to share her message across the country. As a pilot, Jeri Barrientos spends a lot of time in her Hangar with antique planes.

"It's a Rose parakeet and you can see the design is like a rose everywhere," she says as she walks around her Hangar at Airman Acres.

As President of the Tulsa Rotary Club, she spends her time thinking about big issues like human trafficking,

"Just making sure people are aware of what's going on in your own little hometown big town doesn't matter, it's happening right here in your own house and you might not even know it," says Barrientos.

Because Jeri is someone who always seems to have ideas brewing, she's found a way to take her passion for flying to new heights, with a goal to make the world a better place. That means racing her plane thousands of miles.

"It's the only race in the world that's an all-women air race, cross country air race, it spans 2,700 miles," she says.

As part of team Angel Wings, she's taking her shiny Cessna 182 all the way to Grand Forks North Dakota where she'll compete in the Air Race Classic, flying for 4 days through several states. At each of her 9 stops, she'll talk to city leaders about the Demand Project, a Tulsa Organization dedicated to ending human trafficking.

"I want to talk to the presidents and I want to talk to the mayors and we want to find out what you guys are doing as a club to take this on and eradicate it," Barrientos says.

Her message is important, but so is winning the race.

"And highly competitive, it's a bunch of women come on," she says.

On her journey to the starting line in North Dakota, I tagged along until the first fuel stop in Coffeyville Kansas.

After meeting a few people, she was off again, on her way north to win a race and make a difference.

"It's gonna be a lot of fun, I just like being in the sky," she says.

Jeri and team Angel Wings will begin the race on Tuesday. To track her progress CLICK HERE and to learn more about the Demand Project, go to TheDemandProject.org